The Story of EtreTask

EtreTask is Etresoft’s newest software program. While working on a replacement for Decoder, I needed a way to keep track of the many small tasks I need to get done. I didn’t need anything fancy, but I did need something more reliable than my memory. The to-do list manager in iCal was clunky. I tried several shareware and freeware to-do list managers. They either had too many “features” that got in my way or mysteriously lost my tasks. I thought that a to-do list manager was really “low hanging fruit” and there should be no reason why I couldn’t find a free one that I liked. I couldn’t. So, I wrote one.

I completed the first version of EtreTask in a single day. My “low hanging fruit” analysis was right on the mark. EtreTask quickly became one of my most important programs. I finally had a chance to offer some software other than Decoder.

I put aside my new program and focused on EtreTask. In a month, I had something suitable for public release.

EtreTask is a different sort of program. It is software designed to work the way I want it to. I’m not your typical Mac user. While I’ve been using Macs since 1987, I have also been using Unix for about the same timeframe. EtreTask is a to-do list manager for Mac users who like vi. It is only designed to please me and no one else. There are plenty of other to-do list managers available if you don’t like EtreTask.

The Future of EtreTask

I am trying something different with EtreTask. EtreTask 1.0 is freeware, not shareware. If you don’t like the way it works, at least you know you got your money’s worth. I do plan to release a shareware version of EtreTask at some point. The shareware version will include those features that customers ask for but that I don’t use. The freeware version will always be my own vision of the ideal to-do list manager. The shareware version will be the one with the long “feature” list and all the bells and whistles.

My immediate list of enhancements to EtreTask is as follows:

• Re-write with core data
• Priorities
• “Something” with dates

If you would like to see a new feature or two in a future version of EtreTask, please let me know! As many Decoder users can attest, I’m quite happy to add features, even for a single user. You won’t know until you ask.